Biology:Winfrenatia

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Short description: Single-species fossil lichen genus


Winfrenatia
Winfrenatia reticulata reconstrucción.jpg
Reconstruction of the transverse view of Winfrenatia
Scientific classification edit
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Genus: Winfrenatia
T.N.Taylor, Hass & Kerp (1997)
Species:
W. reticulata
Binomial name
Winfrenatia reticulata
T.N.Taylor, Hass & Kerp (1997)

Winfrenatia is a genus that contains the oldest-known terrestrial lichen,[1] occurring in fossils preserved in the lower Devonian Rhynie chert. The genus contains the single species Winfrenatia reticulata, named for the texture of its surface. Both the species and the genus were described in 1997.[2]

It comprises a thallus, made of layered, aseptate hyphae, with a number of depressions on its top surface. Each depression contains a net of hyphae holding a sheathed cyanobacterium. The fungus appears to be related to the Zygomycetes, and the photosynthetic partner of photobiont resembles the coccoid cyanobacteria Gloeocapsa and Chroococcidiopsis.[1][2][3] There may be two separate algae, making the lichen a symbiosis of three organisms.[3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Taylor, T.N.; Hass, H.; Remy, W.; Kerp, H. (1995). "The oldest fossil lichen". Nature 378 (6554): 244. doi:10.1038/378244a0. Bibcode1995Natur.378..244T. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230292933. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Taylor, T.N.; Hass, H.; Kerp, H. (1997). "A cyanolichen from the lower Devonian Rhynie chert". American Journal of Botany 84 (7): 992–1004. doi:10.2307/2446290. ISSN 0002-9122. PMID 21708654. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Karatygin, I.V.; Snigirevskaya, N.S.; Vikulin, S.V. (2009). "The most ancient terrestrial lichen Winfrenatia reticulata: A new find and new interpretation". Paleontological Journal 43: 107–114. doi:10.1134/S0031030109010110. 

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